Christmas is over for another year and I feel grateful for all of the gifts I received, and wanted to share some of them with you in this post.

Here are some goodies I found under my tree. I also got some fairy lights for Christmas and just can’t seem to put them away… 🙂 Clockwise from top left: Ex Libris reading journal by Leuchtturm, unnamed journal, Manufactus leather refillable journal, unnamed journal and Pocket Pal diary. Sorry for the “unnamed” journals; there are no identifying marks on these books but my friend said she bought them because they are just so beautiful, and I totally agree.

I love anything Leuchtturm does and the Ex Libris Private Reading Journal certainly doesn’t disappoint. It is hard cover, and measures 8.25″ x 5.75″. My sister gave this to me, after we discovered it in our favourite stationery store earlier this year. I already have a reading journal but fell in love with this the instant I saw it. Can you have too many? Of course not!

A view of the back cover. The red paper cover comes off and the journal itself is all black.

Inside the front cover. Lovely thank you from the Sturken family (I presume they own Leuchtturm) and details on the history of the company.

It’s hard to see all of the fields but there is space to indicate whether it is a book or an audio book (no box for ebook I see, which is odd), title, author, when and where did you read it, date of publication, original language, genre (this is something I do not currently track and it is an interesting idea), notes/quotations, appraisal from 1 to 6 (checkboxes), gift from/discovered by, and gift to. The paper, as with all Leuchtturm products, is amazing. Each page is numbered. There is no Contents page but rather an index at the back, which I will get to. Most of the book is made up of these pages; they go to page 156. And that’s where the page numbers end, which is not what I would have expected. Then there are three sections, with about a dozen pages each: To Read, To Give (great idea), and Lent To/Borrowed From, followed by about 20 pages of simple lined paper, for whatever you want.

At the very back of the journal is an index. It looks like an address book and you can file books by title and/or author using the lettered tabs. I think this is a fantastic space saving idea, as I currently have a Title Index and an Author Index in my reading journal, which is my own design.

There are also stickers included, as with all Leuchtturm notebooks, for labeling the front and sides of the notebook. All in all it’s a very beautiful and useful reading journal, a great gift for the reader in your life. Or for yourself!

Let’s move on to some stunning smaller notebooks, which measure 5.5″ x 3.5″. I love using this type of notebook in my purse for quick notes.

Gosh the lighting makes it seem to glow! When I first saw these I thought they were Paperblanks. I don’t think they are, although they aren’t labelled as anything. The gilded pattern is raised, so it feels embossed. The material feels like a vinyl or thin plastic. The pages are blank and the paper is really great quality. And each notebook has a ribbon bookmark.

The pattern continues on the back cover.

This one is definitely a cloth binding. Such an amazing cover! And the pattern is once again continued on the back.

I tested eight fountain pens and found no feathering at all.

There is significant show-through but that matters much less to me than feathering. I generally only use the right-hand side for writing in these smaller notebooks anyway.

This is a good place to make a break. Part 2 will follow next Sunday, when I will discuss in detail the Pocket Pal diary and the Manufactus leather journal.

Until next post, happy writing!

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